2010

PipeLineNews Archives: January 2011

Team Obama Unconcerned About Losing Egypt

January 31, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - According to the liberal press [a redundancy for sure] Americans should view news of what appears to be an eventual Muslim Brotherhood triumph in Egypt as a good thing; good for Egypt in that it purportedly represents a consequent triumph of democracy and good for the United States since we will no longer be tied to the despised in, some circles, Hosni Mubarak presidency.

On the Atlantic Magazine Wire [see, Caitlin Dickinson, The Muslim Brotherhood: The Future Of Egypt?, http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/The-Muslim-Brotherhood-The-Future-of-Egypt-6780] we find a posting, a regurgitation really of material already published on other liberal sources such as the Huff Post, extolling the moderate nature of the MB.

Writes Cara Parks, HuffPost, "...the Muslim Brotherhood is known both for its support of democracy and its criticism of American foreign policy..."

Will England, WashPost, "For most of its existence in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has refrained from violence against the state. It is not the organization of radical jihadists that it is sometimes made out to be...."

Paraphrasing Think Progressives' Tonya Somander, "Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei's appearance on Fareek [sic] Zakaria's CNN show in which he denounced such assertions as "a myth perpetuated and sold by the Mubarak regime," insisting that the religiously conservative group is a minority in Egypt, but has a lot of credit because they are interested in a secular state..."

That should be enough to assess the tenor of where the MSM is coming from on Egypt and the Ikhwan; willful ignorance elevated to a virtue.

In the real world, the influence which the Muslim Brotherhood exerts is a continuation of the hard line it established in 1928 when Hassan Al Banna created the organization with the expressed intent of spreading a Wahhabist type Islam throughout not only Egypt but the entire world. This ideology was codified by the MB's theoretician Sayyid Qutb, author of what has become the jihadist playbook, "Milestones."

As referred to by Frank Gaffney today [as translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute] are the words of the Muslim Brotherhood's current Supreme Leader, Mohamed Badie"...[Today, the United States] is withdrawing from Iraq, defeated and wounded, and it is on the verge of withdrawing from Afghanistan. [All] its warplanes, missiles and modern military technology were defeated by the will of the peoples, as long as [these peoples] insisted on resistance. Its wealth will not avail it once Allah has had his say, as happened with [powerful] nations in the past. The U.S. is now experiencing the beginning of its end, and is heading towards its demise...." [see, Frank Gaffney, The Muslim Brotherhood Is The Enemy, Center For Security Policy, http://bigpeace.com/fgaffney/2011/01/30/the-muslim-brotherhood-is-the-enemy/]

Not exactly reassuring...

The MSM's coverage purposely avoids the most important facts regarding the Brotherhood:

1. It refrains from mentioning that the group serves as the seminal intellectual source for the preponderance all modern day jihadist movements, including al-Qaeda.

2. That it created Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group responsible for the wholesale murder of Israeli civilians, now provably tied to Iran's mullahs.

3. That it has an active plan1. to conquer the West by silent subversion and sedition, eventually intending to replace constitutional governments with Shari'a based theocracies, that so far has been quite effective in insinuating principles of Islamic Law into mainstream America [aided by this DOJ] of such things as:

A. Forcing employers to make unreasonable accommodations for Muslim production workers to allow them to pray 5 times a day, to allow Muslima's to wear religious garb while on the job, to allow Muslim jurors to swear on the Qur'an rather than simply affirming the truth [note representative Keith Ellison taking the Oath of Office on a Qur'an] and to push American law very close to accepting the proposition that criticism of Islam is hate speech, as defined by the United Nations.

B. Radical Muslims have created, post 911, the myth that America is a bigoted society, rampant with Islamophobia, despite FBI statistics proving exactly the opposite. This casts radical Muslims as victims in multicultural America, granting them the veritable keys to the car.

C. The alphabet soup of American Islamist groups which are ideologically linked to the MB, organizations such as CAIR, ISNA and the Muslim Student Association have of course taken advantage of this situation and created a blizzard of "outreach" programs designed to subject groups [including government, law enforcement and the military - often enforced via legal actions demanding Muslim "sensitivity training"] to thoroughly disingenuous representations of Islam. These same Islamist groups have been appointed by the MSM as the official spokesmen for American Islam, despite their proven radicalism, in the process throttling the voices of genuinely moderate [non-political] Islam.

D. Our laissez-faire attitude regarding the threat posed by Shari'a has allowed Saudi Wahhabists to establish Muslim study centers throughout academia, including huge programs at Georgetown University and Harvard. These centers have become the loci from which creeping Shari'a flows and is given Western tinged intellectual justification.

Unsurprisingly, Team Obama seems just fine with the prospect of violent street demonstrations in the only Middle Eastern country not officially at war with Israel and with Hillary Clinton - in a radical departure from the State Department's nominal default position of "realism," of maintaining the prevailing order internationally - seemingly just fine with the process. laughably calling it, "an orderly transition" which will lead to "democratic participatory government."

As we have repeatedly noted on these pages, the type of democracy envisioned by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is simple, "one man, one vote, one time."

We find the administration's obvious kow-towing to Egypt's street radicals [note the new presence in this unrest of the totalitarian left, namely International Answer, a Stalinist era artifact] a seamless continuation of the suicidal policy of appeasement launched by Obama in his 2009 surrender speech in Cairo [which took place at Al-Azhar University, the world-wide center of Wahhabist teaching, an event which included invited representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood] and subsequent mea-culpa tour of the world, excoriating the U.S. at every opportunity.

Therefore, when events in Egypt finally shake out and radical Islam triumphs, consider that the seeds which Mr. Obama has sown will have been reaped. When the time comes to assess who "lost" Egypt, all roads will point to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and a singularly delusional presidency.

Notes:

1. Following text from the explanatory notes taken from Muslim Brotherhood's general plan for reinstalling the Caliphate, "The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions..." For the complete document, entered into evidence in U.S. vs Holy Land Foundation, the United States' most extensive and successful prosecution of Hamas terror financing, please see General Strategic Plan For The Group In North America.

Also please note the Muslim Brotherhoods's motto, is:

"Allah is our objective.The Prophet is our leader.Qur'an is our law.Jihad is our way.Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope."

Egypt - Over 40 Muslim Brotherhood Leaders Arrested

January 28, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Seeking to quash what is quickly developing into anti-government street warfare in major Egyptian cities, the Mubarak administration has arrested over 40 members of the country's main terrorist group, the Muslim Brotherhood.

"The recent crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters in a nationwide sweep took place with the arresting, abducting and detaining of many more MB's. Security personnel arrested 6 MB members from Kerdasa who were supporters of Abdul Salam Bashendy after storming their houses at dawn....The constituency of Ismailia witnessed 33 arrests as MB members were hanging posters...Forces also arrested 6 MB's from Alayat Giza, where Dr. Hossam Shendi was nominated after ransacking their houses..."

[source, 43 MBs arrested overnight with the approach of elections, IkhwanWeb, the official English website for the Muslim Brotherhood, http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=27128]

Since its inception in 1928 the Muslim Brotherhood has sought to topple the Egyptian government. As a result it has been suppressed, often violently, throughout its history, with varying degrees of success. The group's goal is to replace Mubarak's quasi-secular administration with a hard line Wahhabist theocracy.

For tactical reasons the MB "renounced" violence in the 70s, feeling [so far proven correct] that its ultimate goal of re-establishing the Caliphate could be better achieved through internal subversion, working especially with outside NGOs who have been pushing for "democracy," knowing that "free" elections will rapidly result in a totalitarian Muslim state on the principle of, "one man, one vote, one time."

This is the identical game plan being followed by the Muslim Brotherhood and its numerous front groups in the West; one which has been remarkably effective, especially in a PR sense, since 911.

Despite the group's masking of its true intent, its purpose remains the same; a commitment to toppling Western and less severely Shari'a influenced Middle Eastern governments by any means possible. It is not happenstance that the MB's motto remains, "God is our purpose, the Prophet our leader, the Qur'an our constitution, Jihad our way and dying for God's cause our supreme objective."

Mahmoud Abbas Gives $2,000 To Family Of Pale Terrorist

By BEILA RABINOWITZ

January 27, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The family of a terrorist who was killed while attempting to kill IDF soldiers was given $2,000 dollars by Mahmoud Abbas [aka Abu Mazen, former chairman of Yasser Arafat's terrorist PLO and currently the leader of the Palestinian Authority's Fatah Party]. Several weeks ago the wannabe bomber ran towards an IDF checkpoint on a jihad operation shouting "Allahu Akhbar" [Allah is Greater]. He was shot and killed before he could detonate two pipe bombs he was carrying.

The money was presented to the family by the governor of the Jenin district in the name of Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinian Media Watch, a research institute that studies Palestinian society from a variety of perspectives, broke the story. For more information see, http://www.palwatch.org/pages/aboutus.aspx]

Muslim Brotherhood Using Web In Promoting Egyptian Street Violence

January 26, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is using the Internet very effectively in promoting the increasingly violent street demonstrations against the Mubarak government.

"Once the Muslim Brotherhood announced their participation in the Day of Rage protest scheduled for Tuesday, January 25th, Brotherhood bloggers promoted a banner across Facebook pages entitled "I'm a MB member who will demonstrate on January 25..."

[source, http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=27930]

The same anonymously authored article on Ikhwanweb, the Muslim Brotherhood's official website, charged the embattled and aging president with being in league with the "Zionists," "MB blogger, Sheriff Abdel-Hamid Heshmat from "Bloggers against Abu Hasira group", said, "We say no to Mubarak and his corrupt regime that allowed the Zionists to desecrate the sanctity of the Egyptian land, Damanhur. The government allows Jews to flock to Egypt every year to visit the shrine of Abu Hasira and implement US-Zionist schemes." [source, Ikhwanweb]

The Muslim Brotherhood has been violently suppressed throughout much of its history, understandably since the MB's intent is to turn back secularism and install a Shari'a based government.

Seeing the great political opportunities presented by civil unrest, the Ikhwan is engaging in a full court press to weaken Mubarak in anticipation of the September elections, the second in Egypt's history. With near universal access to the Internet, MB activists are using social networking platforms such as Facebook very effectively to spread its message.

As Daniel Pipes has wisely observed, Islamists have much to gain politically by working from within the system to subvert it, giving them a chance to bring about "peacefully," what they could only dream of through violent jihad.

"Should Islamists get smart and avoid mass destruction, sticking instead to the lawful, political, nonviolent route, and should their movement remain vital, it is difficult to see what will stop them." [source, Daniel Pipes, After defeating the fascists and the communists, can the West now defeat the Islamists?, New York Sun, http://www.nysun.com/foreign/how-the-west-could-lose/45705/]

An Ikhwan controlled Egypt would bring about a massive foreign policy crisis for the United States. Aside from losing what passes for an ally in the Middle East, it would complete the encirclement of Israel, adding to this ring the nation within whose borders modern jihadism was reborn in the early 20th century. Such a change would also have the effect of markedly strengthening the hand of Iran's ayatollahs in the region and hasten an all out nuclear arms race in, arguably, the world's most dangerous tinderbox as nations such as Saudi Arabia would rapidly seek to defend themselves.

Christians And Their Churches Targeted By Radical Muslims

By EMERSON VERMAAT

January 20, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In December 2010 I reported that Christian asylum seekers in three thirds of the asylum seekers centers in Holland (so-called "AZC's") are seriously intimidated by Muslim asylum seekers. Too many Muslim converts to Christianity  often refugees from totalitarian Muslim societies  live in fear. However, the problem of harassing or attacking Christians is much more widespread. Many Christians in Iraq are persecuted by radical Muslims who bomb their churches, kill their pastors and priests. Many of them flee to the West. (Some them end up in Dutch asylum seekers centers where they once again face harassment by militant Muslims.) Coptic churches in Egypt have also been bombed. There was a major terror attack on a Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt, on New Year's day, when 25 Coptic Christians were killed.

Iran's "Press TV", Lebanon's Grand Mufti, a Muslim Brotherhood official and an Egyptian lawyers group suggested that agents of the Israeli Mossad  "zionist fingerpints"  were behind the church blast. In a recent essay Raymond Ibrahim, author of the noteworthy book "The Al Qaeda Reader," points out that "Islamists accuse Egypt's Christians of behaving like Islamists." "Islamists regularly abduct, abuse, brainwash, and compel Coptic girls to convert  and now Copts are accused of doing the exact same thing; Islamists regularly smuggle and stockpile weapons, including in their holy places  and now Copts are accused of doing the exact same thing. Islamists are constantly either trying to break away or conquer infidel nations  and now Copts are accused of doing the exact same thing; Islamic martyrdom means participating and dying in jihad  and now Christian martyrdom is defined as the exact same thing." "This recent batch of bizarre accusations is making Muslims more irate and paranoid, and bodes greater evil for Egypt's beleaguered Christians."

Just one day before the new year's day bombing in Alexandria a radical Salafi cleric named Abu Mundhir Al-Shinqiti posted a fatwa (religious decree) permitting the targeting Christians in Islamic countries. He "says that the decision whether to attack Christians is up to the jihad commanders in each country. If they decide to do so, it is obligatory to assist them." "An Egyptian police officer opened fire on a crowded train, targeting only the Christian passengers," IPT news reported recently.

Terror threats against Coptic churches in Europe and Australia have also been issued. Germany's Coptic Christians have received threats of attack by radical Muslims and asked for protection, Coptic bishop Anba Damian told a German newspaper early January. "The internet is full of threats against us," he said. "The police have alerted us several times against attacks by radical Muslims. I have written to the Interior Minister to ask for protection."

There were similar reports in Holland. The Dutch newspaper "Trouw," for example, reported on January 4, that Coptic Christians in the Netherlands fear terrorist attacks by Muslims. About one hundred Coptic churches have been mentioned on a black list  the Coptic church that was bombed by radical Islamic terrorists in Alexandria was on that list, too. What alarmed many Coptic Christians in Europe was the fact the Al-Qaeda linked website "Shumuk Al-Islam" praised the Alexandria attack, announcing that (many) other attacks would follow.

Thirty Coptic churches outside of Egypt are mentioned on the same black list. Three of these churches are located in the Dutch cities of Eindhoven, Utrecht and Amsterdam. Their addresses and telephone numbers are mentioned as well. "We ask the Dutch government to protect us," an anonymous Coptic church member from Eindhoven was quoted in "Trouw." There are about 6000 Coptic believers in Holland. Coptic archpriest Youssef Rizkalla, also from Eindhoven, said: "We will not be intimidated." Similarly, Miriam Yakob from Amsterdam's Coptic Church, told the Dutch press: "We are a close-knit community. We will not be chased away." They know that the Dutch anti-terror police are vigilant and alert. Fortunately, no attacks occurred during the Coptic Christmas festivities on January 7. (Two weeks after the Catholics and Protestants celebrate their Christmas, that is.) The three Coptic churches in the Netherlands received police protection that day. Three Dutch Muslim organizations distanced themselves from the threats isssued by Al-Qaeda against Coptic Christians in Egypt and the Netherlands. Last October, Coptic Pope Shenouda III paid a visit to the Netherlands. It was after that visit that militant Muslims began to issue threats against the Coptic community, a prominent member of the Coptic church in Amsterdam claimed.

Sweden and Australia

In the "multicultural" and "liberal" Swedish town of Gothenburg the Coptic church was closed down after receiving an internet threat. On Christmas Eve the community's pastor, Father Shenouda, was visited by four police officers who said there were calls on the internet for what the police called 'activities' against certain Christian churches in Europe. The church was closed for up to two weeks to enable police to search for possible bombs. In Gothenburg, too, more and more Jews are leaving the city because of resurgent anti-Semitism on the part of Muslim immigrants. Keep in mind that during World War Two neutral and Lutheran Sweden was a safehaven for many Jews persecuted by the Nazis.

Four Coptic churches in Sydney, Australia, were on the militant Islamic hitlist, too, "The Australian" reported on January 7, 2011. "Father Gabriel Yassa of Archangel & St Bishoy Church in Sydney told the Weekend Australian that the nation's Islamic leaders needed to speak out against the threats." "I just hope that the leaders in the Islamic community take their responsibilities well and crush out any of those elements in their community," Father Yassa said." He further stated that the terrorist group was "just throwing out a message to the Islamic community to hurt Coptic Christians and I suppose they then just wait to see whoever picks up on it and who goes with it." Many Copts had come to Australia because it was safe, they now feel less safe, though.

Algeria

In still remember my visit to Algeria in 1998. Islamist terrorists then tried to overthrow the more or less secular government of president Liamine Zeroual. The terrorists committed bloody and brutal atrocities against civilians. (One of the most notorious terrorist groups, the "Group Salafiste pour La Prédication et le Combat" or GSPC, would later join Al-Qaeda and subsequently be renamed "Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.") A Dutch Catholic priest told me how the Islamists killed a bishop and a number of monks when they attacked their monastery. All these monks were foreigners and involved in strictly peaceful humanitarian aid. But I also learned in Algeria that the government did not allow any Christian missionary activity among the Muslims. Most Catholics in Algeria were of European origin and were strictly prohibited from making converts among Muslims. There were very few churches, the government did not allow building any additional churches. Foreign Catholic priests and monks were solely involved in humanitairian aid and education. (The situation is roughly the same in many other Muslim countries.)

Attacks on churches in Algeria did not quite stop in after the government largely prevailed over the Islamists in 2002. In January 2010, Algerian militant Muslims set fire to a Pentacostal church in the city of Tizi Ouzou in Northern Algeria. This church was located in a normal apartment building as the Algerian authorities refused to grant permission to the Pentacostalists to build a their own church. When their church was set on fire, churchgoers had to run for their lives as the police failed to protect them. Looters took Bibles and other Christian books and set them on fire as well.

Pakistan's "blasphemy laws"

Pakistan's so-called "blasphemy laws" are aimed at silencing as many Christians and "Ahmadiyyas" (a moderate and "heretical" Muslim group) as possible. Christians and Ahmadiyyas can easily be accused of having "offended" the Holy Muslim Prophet or of having defiled or desecrated the Koran. Any Pakistani Muslim who for some reason harbors a grievance against a Christian can easily take him (or her!) to court by accusing him (or her) of defiling the prophet or the Koran. Such an often defenseless Christian could even be sentenced to death as the courts are under increasing pressure from zealots. Moreover, Muslim Sharia law demands that Muslim converts to Christianity  so-called "apostates"  be sentenced to death. "Apostasy is liable to death punishment," says a Pakistani study on "Islamic punishments."

It was back in December 1993 that the Pakistani magazine "Newsline" took a really courageous position on the blasphemy law (Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code or PPC) which, the magazine claimed, "is increasingly being misused as a weapon of persecution." "Section 295-C does not define the offence in terms of deliberateness or wilfulness or any motive to hurt anyone's feelings. On this score alone the law is defective and liable to abuse," writes I.A. Rebman in "Newsline." "The fires of religious bigotry and intolerance are ravaging our society. It should be a matter of deep concern to all rational Muslims in Pakistan that a law ostensibly designed to ensure respect for the Holy Prophet of Islam had become, in the hands of unscrupulous men, a weapon of oppression, and even a weapon for settling petty scores."

Most victims of the blasphemy law(s) are Ahmadiyyas and Christians. There are about four million Ahmadiyyas and nearly three million Christians in Pakistan. Amnesty International's findings in a July 1994 report are still highly topical today: "The available evidence in all these cases suggests that charges were brought as a measure to intimidate and punish members of minority religious communities or non-conforming members of the majority community."

In September 1995, I met a Pakistani refugee named Anwar Masih. (Christians in Pakistan often adopt the surname "Masih"  derived from "Messiah" or "Christ.") Anwar Masih had previously been jailed for "blasphemy." The death sentence had also been pronounced against him, but due to strong international pressure he was eventually released. He told me that it was "thanks to God" that he had been released. But he decribed to me the case of another Christian named Javed Masih "who had been killed in prison." "This law is dangerous for us," Anwar Masih told me. "Muslim men in Pakistan marry Christian women and then force them to convert to Islam. We as Christians can't do anything about it. But if a Christian man wants to marry a Muslim woman, he can be sentenced to death."

Another example is the case of Gul Masih. He was also eventually released by a Pakistani judge and was later interviewed at a secret location in Germany. He said: "Every Christian was caught by the police there. In prison a Christian is forced by the police and the Muslims to become a Muslim. That's a very ordinary thing there. Some people do become a Muslim there because of the situation they go through. But I did not. I said: 'I am a Christian and I will die a Christian.'"

A Pakistani judge in the city of Lahore ordered the acquittal of Salamat Masih en Rehmat Masih, two Christians accused of "blasphemy" in 1995. This courageous judge was assassinated soon after the verdict. "It is, therefore, no surprise that blasphemy trials invariably result in convictions," M.J. Gohel and Sajjan M. Gohel, two British experts on Asia, write. "The death sentence is the only option that may be granted." A judge "must fear for his own security in the event of an acquittal verdict being passed in favor of the accused."

It is not only Pakistan's judges who must fear for their lives if they defend the right of a Christian to be just a Christian. Quite recently, on January 4, 2011, that is, Punjab governor Salman Taseer was assassinated by Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, a Pakistani Sufi Muslim and "a trusted member of an elite counter-terrorism unit." Indeed, he was a member of the governor's own security protocol. M.J. Gohel and Sajjan M. Gohel describe the motive of the assassin: "After pumping 27 bullets into the governor's body, he calmly handed himself over to his colleagues whilst referring to himself as a 'slave of the Prophet,' and indicated that he had killed Taseer for his campaign against the blasphemy law."

Governor Salman Taseer was one of the very few senior PPP officials (the PPP is the current ruling party) who had the courage to publicly support Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who stands accused of allegedly having insulted the prophet Mohammed. This mother of five had been in jail since June 2009 and remains on death row now. M.J. Gohel and Sajjan Gohel: "Her husband, Ashiq Masih, a laborer, and their five children who are aged between nine and 20, are on the run between safehouses in Punjab. Slain governor Taseer appears to have been the last powerful person to hold out the hand of friendship to Bibi."

Moderate Pakistanis "have been reluctant to publicly condemn the murder for fear of being similarly targeted themselves," a Quilliam briefing paper says. Quilliam is Britain's first counter-extremism think tank. (Quilliam's co-founder Ed Husain is author of "The Islamist," an excellent study on Muslim extremism in Britain.) A number of high profile religious groups openly praised the killer.

It was in July 2010 that two Christians, Rashid Emmanuel and his brother Sajid, were on trial for "blasphemy" in the city of Faisalabad. Before the judge could pass sentence, they were shot dead by two fanatical Muslims who somehow managed to escape. An accompanying policeman was injured. An angry mob subsequently attacked the Christian neighborhood of Waris Pura where they destroyed a church.

Some other Muslim countries and an interesting poll in France

The fate of Christians in quite a few other Muslim countries seems to be little better. This can easily be illustrated by the following more or less recent newspaper headings: "Church Massacre Stuns Iraqi Catholics: (The Guardian, November 2, 2010), "Iraq's Christians Flock to Lebanon" (Time, April 2, 2007), "Christians Tempted to Emigrate as Lebanon Grows Increasingly 'Islamized'" (The Daily Star, September 28, 2009), "Iran Rounds Up Christians in Crackdown" (The Associated Press, January 11, 2011), "In Morocco, a Crackdown on Christian Aid Workers" (Time, March 21, 2010), "Nigeria Violence: Muslim-Christian Clashes Kill Hundreds" (Christian Science Monitor, March 8, 2010), "Nigeria Seeks to Contain Violence after Christmas Attacks" (Christian Science Monitor, December 27, 2010), "Catholic Bishop was Stabbed to Death in Turkey" (Trouw, the Netherlands, June 3, 2010), "(German NRW Integration) Minister Urges Turkey to Build Churches" (Weltonline, October 27, 2008), "German President Wulff Urges Turkey to Respect Christians" (The Local, October 19, 2010), "Angst voor kristenisasi" (Elsevier, the Netherlands, September 25, 2010; on "a 50 percent increase of violence against Christians in Indonesia"), "Islamist Hard-liners in Indonesia Target Christians; Government at a Loss to Respond" (Fox News, July 3, 2010).In a remarkable article the leading French newspaper "Le Monde" recently quoted from polls in Germany and France which showed that there is a widespread feeling among native French and German citizens that the integration of Muslims into their societies has utterly failed. In France, 42 percent of the French see the presence of Muslims as a threat to the identity of the French nation (in Germany it is 40 percent). They see primarily Islam as threat to society. In France, 68 percent of French believe Muslims are not well integrated into society (in Germany it is even 75 percent). It is widely felt that too many Muslims simply refuse to do so ("leur refus de le faire"), in addition to the "vast cultural differences" ("les trop fortes différences culturelles") between Muslims and native French and Germans. These differences are even considered to be more important than the existence of so-called Muslim "ghettos" (37 percent in France, 32 percent in Germany) and "economic difficulties" (20 percent in France, 10 percent in Germany).

Concluding comments

As ever greater numbers of largely economic migrants from Muslim countries are settling in Europe, things are not likely to improve in the decades to come. In too many cases these Muslims do not distance themselves from the totalitarian outlook of the religious creed dominant in their home countries, nor are they willing to accept essential Western values. Many Somali immigrants in Europe, for example, prefer polygamy to being married to one woman. They also practice female circumcision.A lot of Muslim immigrants in Europe and North America espouse anti-Semitic views and even want the Jews to leave  Jews, by the way, who have lived peacefully in the West for centuries. These Jews really contributed to our culture and society. Six million European Jews were murdered by the Nazis for no other reason but their having been just Jews. New immigrants from the Muslim world certainly do not have the right to tell Europe's Jews to leave the old continent.

Emerson Vermaat is an investigative reporter in the Netherlands specialized in terrorism and crime.

Newsline (Pakistan), November/December 1993, p. 26 ("The fires of religious bigotry"), p. 27 ("A vague law. The blasphemy law is intrinsically defective"). The same issue carries an interview with the then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (pages 46-50). She was also opposed to the blasphemy law but failed to abolish it due to tough opposition from Pakistani Muslim militants.

Amnesty International, Pakistan: Use and Abuse of the Blasphemy Laws, London, July 1994, p. 1.

Author's interview with Anwar Masih, a Christian refugee from Pakistan in Ermelo, the Netherlands, September 22, 1995.

"Open Doors" Interview with Gul Masih at a secret location in Germany, January 10 and 11, 1995. "Open Doors" is a well respected Christian human rights organization in Holland.

Executive Orders Are Re-Inventing Government, Granting President Vast Unchecked Power

By CAMILLE GIGLIO

January 25, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - What is an Executive Order? It is a President's or Governor's written declaration which has the force of law, usually based on existing statutory powers, and requiring no action by the Congress or state legislature. An Executive Order becomes law simply by publishing it in the Federal Registry.

This process totally bypasses Congressional Legislative authority (the citizen's voice) and more and more is placing in the hands of the President almost unilateral power.

The right of a president to issue Executive Orders, carrying the weight of law and establishing certain regulations, has been around since George Washington's time. His first Order by President Washington, in 1792, established a mint for the purpose of regulating coinage in the United States, establishing the value of each denomination.

For the first 100 years of our constitutional government, 1792 and 1892, 45 Executive orders were issued. The last six presidents have issued anywhere between 2 to 5 a month each with Bill Clinton amassing a whopping 415 E.O.'s during his eight years in office followed by George W. Bush running a distant second with 291.

So far, in our current president's two years in office he has signed 40 E.O.'s, averaging 2 a month with the last one, Executive Order 13562, being signed on December 27, 2010. You might have missed it during the Christmas holidays and, of course, the media provided only limited coverage.

Not only has the number expanded but the breadth and scope of power being assumed to the Office of the President through these orders, has expanded to an alarming degree giving credence to those who, during the early years of our Government, feared the potential for creation of a near monarchical presidency.

When George W. Bush was president, the hue and cry of the progressives was that Bush was creating an imperial presidency. They were referring, in critical tones to his use of Executive Orders.

Today these same oracles are referring to Obama's Presidency as one of a unitary nature. Call it imperial or unitary it all means the same thing.

Through the use of Executive Orders a great deal of power has been delegated to the presidency aided and abetted by the acquiescence/silence of congress and the courts, the end result of which is to override our Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Several Government watchdog agencies have written reports about the potential for abuse of Executive Orders, some even calling EO's a "Recipe for Tyranny" (James Hirsen, Executive Orders - Edicts From a Presidential Throne: Part 2).

Mr. Hirsen's contention is that Executive Orders are being used to "Illegitimately further the international agenda expressed in UN Treaties."

On June 29, 1993, President Bill Clinton signed EO 12852 establishing the President's Council on Sustainable Development. It incorporated a previous EO, 12737, establishing a Commission on Environmental Quality, signed by George H. W. Bush onDecember 12, 1990.

Section 2 (a) of Clinton's Sustainable Development Order set the functions of this Council and defined the term "sustainable growth, which was "broadly defined as economic growth that will benefit present and future generations without detrimentally affecting the resources or biological systems of the planet."

In other words, when it comes right down to it, red legged frogs have equal or better rights to the land than farmers or other property owners. This concept finds its origins in the United Nations Agenda 21 goals and objectives.

Executive Orders bind the executive branch and its cabinet offices to do the bidding of the president and report their progress to the president, but they are not acting in a vacuum. The executive branch of our government has joined with certain private sector non-profits which act in as a sort of research and development branch of government, advising and counseling the president on redesigning the way in which government performs.

The web site for the Alliance for Redesigning Government, a creation of the National Academy of Public Administration - NAPA, itself established in 1967 by congressional charter, states that it was founded as a non-profit "to create an information and learning network for the thousands of change agents - people in or close to government - who are struggling to improve the public sector's performance." http://www.napawash.org.

This Alliance researched the ability of the government to perform and determined that it was not accomplishing what they saw as most needed goals. It lacked a unifying "central nervous system" which they felt that the executive branch of government could become.If the Executive Branch of Government is the central nervous system for re-inventing our government, then public/private partnerships created through congressional charter or Executive Orders serve as the silent non-elected, inaccessible control mechanism behind, often overriding the authority of elected officials and the rights of the citizenry.

January 24, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a piece, the thrust of which is entirely too prevalent with the head-in-the-sand MSM, we find Time Magazine's Romesh Ratnesar concluding that radical Islam is not on the rise in the United States. He does this by conflating intentions with effectiveness, that since the numerous recent attempts at violent jihad were carried out by apparent bumblers that there is therefore no threat.

"Myrick wrote in her letter to Obama. "The strikingly accelerated rate of American Muslims arrested for involvement in terrorist activities since May 2009 makes this fact self-evident." Actually, it doesn't. Though acts of violent extremism by U.S. Muslims appear to have grown, their potency has not..." [source, Romesh Ratnesar, The Myth of Homegrown Islamic Terrorism, Time Magazine, http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2044047,00.html#ixzz1ByGXvAHD]

Let's get this straight...more attacks means less of a threat, an odd bit of logic even in a periodical which has about the same relevancy in intellectual circles as does Tiger Beat Magazine.

Indicative of an absurd historical revisionism, Mr. Ratnesar seems to assert that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan [a "Soldier of Allah," one must remember - SoA(SWT), Soldier of Allah (Glory to God) - as claimed on his business cards] wasn't a terrorist.

"...The killing spree by Major Nidal Hasan at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009 doesn't fit the standard definition of terrorism: his motives were not wholly ideological..."

[Time Magazine]

Anwar Al Awlaki [who mentored Hasan, Christmas bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and a whole string of jihadis including possibly members of the 911 plot] is similarly dismissed by the strident Ratnesar, "In the eyes of some, al-Awlaki and his ilk represent the vanguard of an even more sinister trend: the growing "radicalization" of the estimated 5 million Muslims living in the U.S..."

The author concludes in the next paragraph "...Actually, it doesn't."

Such mental contortionism is required by MSM writers because they must alter reality to fit their preconceptions and Mr. Ratnesar is no different. He simply tries to [unconvincingly] explain away the alarming increase in domestic terror plots undertaken by Muslims while completely ignoring the increasingly virulent rhetoric coming from America's radical Muslim lobby groups and what is potentially the greatest threat posed by radical Islam, the incessant drumbeat towards incorporating Shari'a into the U.S. legal system.

It is this avoidance of the stealth jihad, the seditious attack mounted by Muslim Brotherhood affiliated groups from the inside, to gain sufficient political influence to further advance what is in their minds God's law, Shari'a, which absolutely places Ratnesar among the numerous apologists for Muslim extremism who have an agenda at odds with any semblance of what is required to establish reasonable national security measures.

As we have maintained since the announcement of the intended hearings by Rep. Peter King on the rise of domestic Islamism, if there is no threat, those allegedly linked to this phenomenon have nothing to fear and should, rather than mounting a campaign of vituperation and name calling, welcome the investigation because they will be exonerated in the court of public opinion once and for all.

911 Mosque Outrage, Imam Tries To Expropriate Jewish Prophet Moses

January 21, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - According to an unsettling report by Aaron Klein of World Net Daily, the imam who recently took the lead position in the fight to establish a huge mosque at New York's ground zero - Abdallah Adhami - is so thoroughly steeped in Wahhabism that he stated in a 2008 lecture that Muslims should claim Moses as one of their own and that Muslims have more "right" to his lineage than Jews.

"Muslims have "more of a right" than Jews to the biblical prophet Moses, declared the imam who has become the new face of the proposed Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero...Imam Abdallah Adhami also urged Muslims to "compete" with other religions..."We must be doing it first, we must compete with you to be doing more of that. We want to fast Ashura too, because that's the day God saved Moses; that is certainly a day to be celebrated. We have more right to Moses," stated Adhami in a 2008 lecture obtained and reviewed by WND..."

[source, [see, Aaron Klein, Ground Zero Imam, 'We have more of a right to Moses', http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=253421

Adhami has replaced the embattled imam Feisal Rauf as chief public spokesman for the proposed mega-mosque.

The disclosure is simply another bit of evidence proving that the plan to build the mosque is not a peaceful and healing gesture but rather an effort to erect a triumphalist totem to Islamic conquest on hallowed ground.

The New York coterie of political hacks who support this effort had better take note, it 's now part of the public record that this mosque is intended to serve as a beachhead for radical Muslims to spread their religious bigotry.

Mayor Bloomberg, if after digesting this information you still support this abomination, we suggest that you spend a few months in Saudi Arabia to experience the wonders of Shari'a up close and personal - suggestion, leave your Torah at home.

Peter King On Radical Muslim Hearings, "Leadership Of The Community Not Geared To Cooperation"

January 19, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In an interview given to Politico [see, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47756.html] Representative Peter King, the Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, essentially claimed that the self-appointed spokesmen for American Islam are only giving lip service to ending the threat of Muslim terrorism.

"...It's the fact that there's a real threat coming from this attempted radicalization of the community and it's, in many ways, coming from overseas...The leadership of the community is not geared to cooperation..."

The tactic these pressure groups have employed is intentionally deceptive and hints at a more sinister motive, generating endless streams of public relations statements suggesting cooperation, while in private, counseling the Muslim community, the Umma to "Build a wall of resistance, don't talk to the FBI," as CAIR California recently did [see image inset and Fox News, http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/01/13/cair-says-anti-fbi-poster-misinterpreted/] then disingenuously countering [after hastily pulling the poster from its website] that it was all a big misunderstanding.

As he has stated on many occasions, until September 11, 2001 King enjoyed an excellent relationship with New York's Muslim leaders, but that all ended after the attacks as the alphabet soup of - often foreign influenced - Islamist pressure groups adding insult to injury, embarking on a nationwide snake-oil tour, crying Islamophobia, when none existed.

"Before 9/11, few if any American politicians had a closer relationship with the Muslim community and its leadership than I did. During my first months in Congress in 1993, I traveled to the Balkans - including Bosnia, Macedonia and Kosovo - to support that region's Muslims from aggression by Serbian Orthodox Christians...I attended the Islamic Center of Long Island ...had Muslim students intern in my office...In the days following 9/11, I made several television and radio appearances supporting American Muslims, saying that they had nothing to do with the attacks and were as loyal and patriotic as any Americans..."

It is clear now that the purpose of this effort was to in essence contaminate the jury pool and turn Muslim citizens against their government and its efforts to protect the homeland.

It is for this reason that King's hearing are long overdue. The charlatans who have appropriated positions of leadership in the American Muslim community need to be held to account, to clearly state their stance on Islamic terror organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, to go on the record as to supporting or opposing Shari'a and to answer questions as to the source of their financing and to what degree they are stoking American mosques with Wahhabist radicals.

Analysis - If Success In Afghan War Is Dependant On Pak Cooperation, The Effort Will Likely Fail

January 17, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Writing for Family Security Online, Lt. Col James Zumwalt [USMC, Ret.] makes the claim that without the active support of Pakistan, the U.S. will be unsuccessful in defeating the Afghan Taliban and hence see victory slip through its fingertips.

Zumwalt - like many knowledgeable observers - bemoans the loss of former Pak president Musharraf, who was far more dedicated to fighting the jihadis, than the current leader, Mr. Zardari, "But with the resignation of strongman Musharraf in August 2008 and his replacement by Asif Ali Zadari, the same military commitment to containing the militants in FATA was not there..." [see, For Want Of Pakistani Enlightenment Afghanistan Will Be Lost, http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.8431/pub_detail.asp]

Actually, Lt. Col. Zumwalt might be painting a rosier picture than reality might suggest. While he seems to suggest that it is possible to find common ground between U.S. and Pakistani security interests, he fails to sufficiently factor in the mindset of most Pakistanis, including the country's leadership - this is a deeply fundamentalist, paranoid and expansionist Islamic society. Fact is, at base level Pakistan is doctrinally more in tune with the Taliban than it is with the West.

It is not for any lack of knowledge that the jihadi influence continues to permeate Pakistan's ISI security force and its military leadership. That level of devotion is a given and unremarkable given societal standards.

This is why we find all of the recent "full out" plans for rooting out the Taliban extremists less than ineffective - the words are there, but the heart is not similarly committed, especially when it seems to them that these actions are being forced on them by the West [i.e., the outside Christian world] and not internally dictated.

Zumwalt correctly notes the effectiveness of the drone campaign against Taliban/a-Qaeda leadership in the tribal areas, but this is simply not enough.

In the real world, it is really impossible for the Paks to root out the Taliban in the area bordering Afghanistan: first they really don't have sufficient motivation [hampered by their religious belief] and second, assuming the will, the military and intelligence is so riddled with jihadis that they will never take the sustained and proper action necessary.

So what to do?

If, as it seems, success in Afghanistan is dependent in large measure upon de-linking the Pak and Afghan Taliban, then that job will fall on the shoulders of U.S. forces. If the jihadi infrastructure in the tribal areas is the problem, no amount of drone attacks will possibly suffice for direct - not proxy - military action, actively and directly waging war on the jihadi bases and then holding that ground. Call this an invasion, call it a temporary incursion, call it what you will, Pakistan's world view is so dysfunctional vis-a-vis our interests, as to be hopeless at this point and barring adequate resolve by this administration - and the next and the next - Afghanistan will always be a festering sore, which no amount of foreign aid and military assistance can cure.

This is by no means a waving of the white flag, rather it is a call to a realistic pathway whereby to secure our security interests. At this point success in this conflict lacks only one [but evanescent] component - sufficient national will.

Hispanics Converting To Islam In Droves? Where's The Beef?

January 13, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a piece carried by a Taliban/al-Qaeda friendly website, we find it claimed that 200,000 American Hispanics are converting to Islam each year. Of course the information has since been disseminated by the usual suspects.

The article refers to a Jan. 7 New York Times piece which benignly states, "While the majority of Hispanics in the United States are Catholic, some studies have estimated that there are as many as 200,000 Hispanic converts to Islam in this country..." [source, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/nyregion/09muslims.html].

It seems that some of the basis for the Times' article might be based on a 2006 Christian Science Monitor item, " The population of Hispanic Muslims has increased 30 percent to some 200,000 since 1999, estimates Ali Khan, national director of the American Muslim Council in Chicago..."

So we have a circle of disinformation typical of Islamist propaganda - a legit news source presents conjecture possibly of benefit to Islamist da'wa efforts with no substantiation outside of a Chicago imam's "estimate."

Two factors are at work here, the first being an example of how urban myths come into public consciousness and the second, that there are always parties interested in expanding upon these conspiracy theories for their own political benefit.

It is the politics of the claim regarding Hispanics that is key here. With many American Muslim pressure groups under siege because of their associations and tactics, those seeking the eventual triumph of Shari'a in the U.S. are actively stoking the information stream, intending to create the self-fulfilling prophesy that Islamic domination of the West is inevitable.

Because many domestic decision makers are disciples of a pathological multiculturalism, the political motive for the drive for Muslim conversion is infrequently and inadequately examined.

However, evidence pointing to the sinister potential of da'wa is available, below a portion of Dr. Michael Weller's [Annenberg Professor of International Communication The Institute of World Politics] testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on October 13, 2003, which shows that international Wahhabism [the extreme Saudi form of Sunni Islam] is actively seeking to create a street-savvy, prison-tough Islamist fifth column.

"...Radical Islamist groups, most tied to Saudi-sponsored Wahhabi organizations suspected by the U.S. government of being closely linked to terror financing activities, dominate Muslim prison recruitment in the U.S. and seek to create a radicalized cadre of felons who will support their anti-American efforts. Estimates place the number of Muslim prison recruits at between 15-20% of the prison population. They are overwhelmingly black with a small, but growing Hispanic minority. It appears that in many prison systems, including Federal prisons, Islamist imams have demanded, and been granted, the exclusive franchise for Muslim proselytization to the forceful exclusionof moderates..."

Regardless of the rapidity [or lack thereof] of ethnic minority groups converting to Islam, the fact remains that the activity of foreign influenced da'wa efforts in prison should be viewed with great concern as al-Qaeda and related groups transition from relying on foreign born terrorists to those of domestic origin.

January 11, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Almost before the body was cold after the January 7 assassination of Punjab governor Salman Taseer by a member of his inner guard, 500 of Pakistan's religious scholars and imams released a statement condoning the murder, stating that Taseer met a just fate because he violated the country's Shari'a inspired blasphemy laws.

As we noted on the day of the bloodshed [see Assassination Of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer - Pakistani Islamists Silence Critic Of Blasphemy Laws] the killer said that his actions were justifiable under Shari'a, "What makes this a religious based killing of special importance is the role that Mr. Taseer played in speaking out against Pakistan's Shari'a based "blasphemy" laws, which prescribe harsh punishment for those who are thought to have insulted Islam or its prophet, Mohammed. In this case "insulting Islam," was merely Taseer speaking out against a single aspect of Shari'a, with no apparent or consequent criticism of the religion itself. [note: Taseer's killer stated under interrogation that his motive was the governor's opposition to the blasphemy laws]..."

The killer's stated reason for acting, far from being an anomaly in this overwhelmingly Muslim country, appears to be the consensus opinion of a substantial portion of Pakistan's Islamic scholars, who find the death penalty for blasphemy thoroughly consistent with the Qur'an and the accompanying Sunnah.

According to MEMRI's translation, the clerics' statement read in part:

"[The clerics] asked Muslims, in a joint statement, not to express any sympathy or sorrow over the assassination of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, declaring that no one should participate in his funeral prayer or try to lead the prayer. Those who support the perpetrators of blasphemy against Prophet [Muhammad] are also blasphemers. Lauding the bravery and sense of honor for faith and religion of the Prophet's lover Ghazi Malik Mumtaz Hussain, who assassinated the governor, the leaders and clerics of Jamaat Ahl-e-Sunnat said that this brave person has maintained the 1400 years of Muslim tradition, and has held the heads of 1.5 billion Muslims of the world high with pride.

"The Jamaat Ahle Sunnat leaders and clerics said that ministers, politicians, so-called intellectuals, [television] anchor persons, and others who oppose the blasphemy law and support the perpetrators of blasphemy against the prophet should take a lesson from the death of the Punjab governor. The Ahl-e-Sunnat leaders and clerics said that the punishment for blasphemy against the prophet is only death as per the Holy Book [i.e. Koran], Sunnah [sayings and deeds of Prophet Muhammad], consensus of Muslim opinion and explanations by the ulema [religious scholars]; and they also said that any blasphemous remark against the prophet - even unintentionally - makes one a kafir [infidel]. There has been a consensus on this issue among the ulema of the ummah and muftis right from the eras of the prophet and the companions of the prophet until today. Those who committed blasphemy against the prophet were killed during the period of the four early caliphs."

This sordid incident, once again makes clear the destructive nature of Shari'a - in any society, let alone the West - and Islamic apologists will be working overtime to attempt to undo the damage this religious murder has done to their argument and agenda.

New Study - Iran Arming Hezbollah For War Against Israel

January 10, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Despite, or most likely because of president Obama's lack of attention to Iran's hand in international terrorism, Israel is now facing a great threat to its existence, with Iran's proxies busily arming Hezbollah for an even more destructive war.

This is the chilling conclusion of a new study by the Jewish Center For Public Affairs [JCPA] authored by Jacques Neriah [see, http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=1&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=442&PID=0&IID=5660&TTL=Iran_Steps_Up_Arming_Hizbullah_Against_Israel Iran Steps Up Arming Of Hezbollah Against Israel

Among Nerieh's concerns:

"Damascus Airport has been identified as the transit point for airlifts of Iranian arms that were subsequently transferred to Hizbullah via the open Syrian-Lebanese border, under the supervision of the Syrian security services.

A senior Pentagon official has divulged that Hizbullah has 50,000 rockets and missiles, including 40-50 Fatah 110 missiles and 10 SCUD-C ground-to-ground missiles. Furthermore, some 10,000 Hizbullah fighters have been provided with a broad range of modern weapons, while the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have trained Hizbullah teams to operate these weapons."

This Iranian effort is not restricted to the Middle East but is worldwide in its scope, "The Iranian intelligence services, operating in the framework of the Revolutionary Guards, have built many cells in Africa, most of which rely on Shiite emigrants from Lebanon. This is being undertaken in the framework of the African Division of the Jerusalem Corps of the Guards, an effort headed by Gen. Qassem Suleymani. After training in Iran, they serve as a nucleus for recruiting others and provide a base for Iranian intelligence activity in their countries."

Long standing reports [2008 in this case] detail Iran's budding relationship with Venezuela's communist dictator Hugo Chavez, establishing a Hezbollah presence in that South American country, "Western anti-terrorism officials are increasingly concerned that Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shiite Muslim militia that Washington has labeled a terrorist group, is using Venezuela as a base for operations. Linked to deadly attacks on Jewish targets in Argentina in the early 1990s, Hezbollah may be taking advantage of Venezuela's ties with Iran, the militia's longtime sponsor, to move "people and things" into the Americas..." [see, Fear Of A Hezbollah Presence In Venezuela, Chris Kraul and Sebastian Rotella, Los Angeles Times, http://articles.latimes.com/2008/aug/27/world/fg-venezterror27]

It's apparent from the JCPA study that Hezbollah has not only received sophisticated armaments which could threaten central Israel, but is actively preparing for war, possibly soon. "Following the Second Lebanon War, Hizbullah reorganized its command-and-control system....A U.S. State Department cable dated Apr. 16, 2008, 'decried the establishment of a complete fiber optics network by Hizbullah throughout Lebanon.' Lebanese Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh cited the Iranian Fund for the Reconstruction of Lebanon as the source of funding for the network."

If Team Obama finds these types of reports troubling, it is not reflected in either its diplomacy or its public statements.

U.S. Stealth Jihad Groups - Nothing To Fear From King Hearings But The Truth

"We see the upcoming King hearings, rather than being divisive, serving as a litmus test for these American Muslim organizations. If over the next few weeks and months CAIR, ISNA, MPAC resolve to support the goal of the hearings and positively participate in them, they will have demonstrated a willingness to make a laudable difference.

If on the other hand, they continue to allege that there is no problem with increasing radicalization among American Muslims and that King and his ilk are Islamophobes, beating up on a "peaceful" Islam, then their agenda will become obvious for all to see and they will no longer have cover under which to hide."

It didn't take long for America's self-appointed Muslim spokesmen to slam King and the hearings for promoting Islamophobia, with CAIR stating on Jan 3, "Rep. Peter King's plan to investigate the "radicalization of the American Muslim community and homegrown terrorism" is the knee-jerk reflex of a demagogue who has made a career out of inflaming people's fears...."

As part of the campaign to vilify Mr. King, in the same writing, CAIR attempts to establish itself as a spokesman for America's religious community, "The collateral damage of demeaning and subjecting an entire religious community to animus..."

MPAC [Muslim Public Affairs Council] chimed in on Jan 7 charging King with making "wild claims," sweeping generalizations" "peddling false claims" and with taking a "reckless and dangerous approach..."

"Sadly, King has a history of pointing fingers and peddling false statistics that paint the Muslim American community with a broad brush. "There are too many mosques in this country," King told Politico in 2007. "There are too many people who are sympathetic to radical Islam. We should be looking at them more carefully and finding out how we can infiltrate them." He has also claimed, without any proof, that 85 percent of American mosques are led by extremists, saying "this is an enemy living among us." However, King has failed to provide a reliable source for the statistics and wild claims he throws out about the Muslim American community. Such sweeping generalizations about communities we need to engage, not alienate, is a reckless and dangerous approach for a decision-maker heading the homeland security committee." [see, http://www.mpac.org/programs/government-relations/dc-news-and-views/dear-rep.-king.php]

At the end of this diatribe, MPAC actually has the temerity to ask for a meeting with King...unbelievable.

What to gather from this?

That U.S. Islamists are alarmed at the prospect of being outed during King's proceedings, it's an understandable sentiment, they have everything to fear from the truth.

Upcoming Peter King Hearings On Islamism, Will America's Self-Appointed Muslim Spokesmen Support Them?

December 29, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Much has been made of two recent but unrelated items, the release of a study by MPAC [Muslim Public Affairs Council, see, http://www.mpac.org/assets/docs/publications/MPAC-Post-911-Terrorism-Data.pdf] which puts forth the proposition that there is a significant amount of support in the Muslim community for anti-terror efforts by U.S. law enforcement, and two, the announcement by Peter King [R,NY] the incoming Chair of the House's Homeland Security Committee, that he will hold hearings on the increasing radicalization of the U.S. Muslim community.

MPAC's study, which alleges that the U.S. Muslim community was responsible for breaking up about 1/3 of the al-Qaeda terror plots in the U.S., is seriously flawed according to terror experts.

An analysis by the Investigative Project on Terrorism states with regard to MPAC's study, "The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) claims in its study that "almost 1 out of 3 al-Qaida-related terror plots threatening America since 9/11/01" were thwarted in part because of help from the Muslim community. However, the MPAC study is full of mistakes, faulty data, contradictions, selective use of information, and demonstrably dishonest analysis..." [source, Islamic Group's Database Found To Be Fraudulent, Investigative Project on Terrorism, http://www.investigativeproject.org/2390/mpac-stats-not-supported-by-facts]

Actually, MPAC uses just about every statistical trick in the book to skew the result of its study to support its narrative that there is widespread support for anti-terror law enforcement efforts by the U.S. Muslim community.

Furthermore, MPAC uses its findings to advance the notion that, "...there is little evidence of rising ideological extremism among American Muslims," a statement that flies in the face of reason to most Americans post 9/11.

Because of the way which the majority self-appointed spokes-groups for the U.S. Muslim community reacted to 9/11 [carrying on a counter-offensive charging the U.S. with Islamophobia and widespread discrimination] many have concluded that they have no interest in combating Islamism [political Islam, intent upon incrementally extending the reach of Shari'a in the U.S.] but rather, conduct their affairs in such a way as to make it impossible for the U.S. to defend itself against the threat of forced Shari'a compliance - in effect a "legal" coup d'état, supplanting the Constitution with the rule of Islamic law.

Often in this discussion there is an attempt to create an artificial distinction between the violent and non-violent forms of jihad. While it is of course a primary duty to effectively deal with domestic Muslim terrorism, in the long term the non-violent effort to force Shari'a compliance is just as damaging as would be an imposed Islamic theocracy, the end points are exactly the same, representing two pathways of an existential threat.

We see the upcoming King hearings, rather than being divisive, serving as a litmus test for these American Muslim organizations. If over the next few weeks and months CAIR, ISNA, MPAC resolve to support the goal of the hearings and positively participate in them, they will have demonstrated a willingness to make a laudable difference.

If on the other hand, they continue to allege that there is no problem with increasing radicalization among American Muslims and that King and his ilk are Islamophobes, beating up on a "peaceful" Islam, then their agenda will become obvious for all to see and they will no longer have cover under which to hide.

January 7, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - On Tuesday, Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province, was assassinated by one of his body guards who pumped 27 bullets into his body. [see, South East Asian News Agency, http://www.sananews.net/english/2011/01/05 /elliot-force-cop-shot-down-governor-salman-taseer/]

The event, as with much news concerning the threat posed by Islamism, was immediately buried by the majority of the MSM or ignored entirely.

What makes this a religious based killing of special importance is the role that Mr. Taseer played in speaking out against Pakistan's Shari'a based "blasphemy" laws, which prescribe harsh punishment for those who are thought to have insulted Islam or its prophet, Mohammed. In this case "insulting Islam," was merely Taseer speaking out against a single aspect of Shari'a, with no apparent or consequent criticism of the religion itself. [note: Taseer's killer stated under interrogation that his motive was the governor's opposition to the blasphemy laws]

Taseer belonged to the same political party [PPP] as former PM Benazir Bhutto, who was similarly assassinated in 2007, also by Islamists, most likely linked to the Taliban.

The fact that the politician fell victim to a member of his hand chosen security force demonstrates the extent to which the radical Islamic theology continues to exert its influence in the troubled nation and is predictive of just how difficult it will be for Pakistan to shake the influence of the powerful and growing movement.

Jihadist activity in Pakistan has taken an upward spike recently, with the country's first female suicide bomber having killed over 40 two weeks ago in the Bajaur region.

Speakers Fleeing ISNA Florida Conference

January 6, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Along with several other politicians who have made the same decision, Florida State Representative Ari Porth has cancelled his speaking engagement at this weekends Fort Lauderdale conference for the Islamic Society of North America [ISNA], due to information he received about the group's underlying ideology.

Joe Kaufman, Chairman of Americans Against Hate, a watchdog group concerned about the spread of Islamism, has organized a protest against the planned ISNA meeting. It will take place this coming Saturday, in downtown Fort Lauderdale, from 4:00 - 6:00 pm.

In an AAH press release, Mr. Kaufman said he provided representative Porth with proof of ISNA's radical ideology, its questionable relationships and how it has used its website, "to propagate hate..."

Amsterdam Police Chief Would Refuse to Enforce Burqa Ban

By BEILA RABINOWITZ

January 5, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The head of the Dutch Freedom Party Geert Wilders has called upon the Chief of Police in Amsterdam to enforce the law or resign. Bernard Welten announced on a television program that if a burqa ban were to be implemented he would practice civil disobedience and not arrest anyone breaking the law.

Other politicians have also reacted furiously to Welten's comments and urged Security and Justice Minister Opstelten to make Welten retract his statements or resign.

A spokesperson for Welten said his remarks must be seen in context and that the burqa ban was not yet in place. [source, translation by author, Wilders - Welten Must Resign, De Telegraaf, http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/8652997/___Welten_moet_biezen_pakken___.html]

The Mayor of Amsterdam, Eberhard van der Laan, has expressed support for Welten who so far, has refused to reconsider his comments.

The violence occurs against a backdrop of al-Qaeda hectoring Alexandria's Muslims to "destroy the cross," "In the weeks before the New Year's Day suicide bombing of an Egyptian church, al-Qaida-linked websites carried a how-to manual on "destroying the cross," complete with videos on how to build a bomb and the locations of churches to target including the one that was attacked. They may have found a receptive audience in Alexandria, where increasingly radicalized Islamic hard-liners have been holding weekly anti-Christian demonstrations, filled with venomous slogans against the minority community." [source, Anti-Christian drumbeat loud before Egypt attack, AP, http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iohMy5LGHFB_K6a0GyOr8taaAISg?docId=0de41fe06ea6435c815293fcf76e1fa1]

World-wide attempts by stealth jihadists to deny any Islamic connection to the carnage is contradicted by the presence of local Muslims at the scene heard chanting, "Allah Akhbar," God is great, the traditional Muslim war cry, popular since the time of Mohammed.

From combined press reports, it seems that the Mubarak government might be in the process of attributing the bombing to a single person, intending to minimize the obvious potential for anti-Muslim blowback from this event.

Al-Qaradawi A Moderate Now?

January 4, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a preeminent radical Muslim spokesman, co-founder of IslamOnline and currently the president of the International Union for Muslim Scholars [IUMS] has, on the Muslim Brotherhood's website - Ikhwanweb - expressed outrage over the recent bombing of a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria, Egypt, calling the perpetrators, "criminals, assassins."

Advancing a line familiar to Muslim apologists, he engages in takfir, declaring that the perpetrators of Islamic fueled violence are not Muslim, asserting they are, "...non-Muslims because Islam asserts the sanctity of human life and strongly prohibits aggression against it." 1.

If this was taking place in a vacuum, or came from a less influential source, it would be easily dismissible. Unfortunately that is not the case here.

A graduate of the Islamic world's most prestigious jihad factory, Al-Azhar, al-Qaradawi's name is indelibly linked with the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the reasons why he fled Egypt and now lives in Qatar.

According to the Jewish Defense League, "Qaradawi has a long record of inciting violence against Jews and Israel...during a sermon that aired on the Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera TV on January 28, 2009, Qaradawi told his audience, "I will shoot Allah's enemies, the Jews, and they will throw a bomb at me, and thus I will seal my life with martyrdom...In another sermon on January 9, 2009, Qaradawi lashed out at Jews, including calling on God to "kill them, down to the very last one." [source, Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, Theologian of Terror, JDL, http://www.adl.org/NR/exeres/788C5421-70E3-4E4D-BFF4-9BE14E4A2E58,DB7611A2-02CD-43AF-8147-649E26813571,frameless.htm]

According to the respected Middle East Media Research Institute [MEMRI] Qaradawi is a fervent supporter of Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood created Palestinian terrorist group.

"I support the Palestinian cause. I support the resistance and the jihad. I support Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and Hizbullah. I oppose the peace that Israel and America wish to dictate. This peace is an illusion. I support martyrdom operations..." [source, MEMRI, http://www.memri.org/report/en/print2319.htm]

Are we now expected to suspend all sense of disbelief and accept that a man who supports the cold-blooded killing of Jewish women and school kids, at the same time harbors kind intentions about Egypt's Christians?

What al-Qaradawi's statement really means is that many supporters of jihad have made the decision to practice takiyya, religiously condoned lying, in order to mask their malignant ideology.

This has implications for us in the West, where because of a pervasive and forced multiculturalism, statements by people such as al-Qaradawi are expected to be taken at face value. It has particular applicability when it comes to America's largest Islamist pressure groups, CAIR, ISNA and the rest, whose spokesmen occasionally make similar pronouncements, despite their organizations continually battling against reasonable national security policies, often resorting to litigation.

National security writers must therefore resist the temptation to believe a group's talking points while disregarding what is really important, its actions. Until Muslims and non-Muslims alike agree that resisting Islamic jihad is not making war on Islam itself, there is still much to be done in a realistic program of Muslim outreach.

Notes:

1. Dr. David Cook commenting on the takfir phenomenon, "...Globalist radical Muslims go even farther, maintaining that every Muslim who does not actively participate in jihad against non-Muslims is himself a non-Muslim, and sometimes true extremists among them - declare that these apostate Muslims, together with their families, must be killed." Understanding Jihad, David Cook, p. 139, University of California Press, 2005

January 3, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a January 1 article published by Ikhwanweb, the Muslim Brotherhood's official English website [see, http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=27728] the Muslim Brotherhood [MB, Ikhwan - Muslim brothers - in Arabic] railed against the terror bombing of a Christian church in Alexandria, Egypt, " The Muslim Brotherhood vehemently condemns the criminal blast outside Alexandria's church..."

Two days later, on January 3, the same site published a piece which continued to develop the narrative which comprised the last portion of the Jan 1 posting, attacking the Egyptian government for its failure to deal with security, "The attack comes after Egypt's interior ministry promised it would increase security around Christian sites following threats on Egyptian Christians by Al-Qaeda in Iraq and a year after another attack on Coptic Christians - a drive-by shooting in the town of Nag Hammadi that left six Christians and one Muslim dead."

The kicker in the Jan. 3 piece is that it cynically uses the church bombing to attack the MB's main domestic enemy, the Mubarak government, "The Arabic Network expressed its concern that terrorism will be an excuse to impose more restrictions on civil and political freedoms under the pretext of combating terrorism, especially when the international community is complicit with shameful silence; overlooking rigged elections that resulted in an illegitimate parliament and declaring their satisfaction with fragile stability at the expense of democracy."

The network referred to above is ANHRI, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, a group which regularly defends the MB [see, http://www.anhri.net/en/?s=muslim+brotherhood]. Groups such as ANHRI join with similarly motivated organizations to assail governments, many of which are dealing with Islamic terrorism, to become more "democratic."

The methodology here is to force these countries to engage in the ephemera of democracy including "free" elections. In the case of Egypt this would mean "one man-one vote-one time," resulting in an Islamic theocracy run by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt is a particular thorn in the side of the Islamists, since it is the only Arab nation nominally not at war with Israel.

Egypt has served as the home for the Muslim Brotherhood since its inception in 1928. Many experts on Islamic radicalism, place the MB in the seminal role of godfather to the modern jihadist movement, including al-Qaeda and its brethren. Though the Brotherhood has a long record of engaging in violent attempts to overthrow the Egyptian government [some speculate that Anwar Sadat's assassination was a MB hit] and created the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, it now claims that it no longer advocates violence, though its motto remains, "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Qur'an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope." Though the group's rhetoric has changed over the last few decades it retains perhaps the key leadership role in promoting Islamism around the globe.

For example, a major document presented as evidence in the largest successful U.S. prosecution of terror funding [U.S. vs. Holy Land Foundation] outlines a plan by the Muslim Brotherhood and its American front groups on how to wage civilizational jihad against the West. The author of the 1991 document was Mohammed Akram.

The text of the plan includes the following:

"The process of settlement is a 'Civilization-Jihadist Process" with all the word means. The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated ad God's religion is made victorious over all other religions..."

"Without this level of understanding, we are not up to this challenge and have not prepared ourselves for Jihad yet. It is a Muslim's destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final hour comes, and there is no escape from that destiny except for those who chose to slack..."

AP's "Analysis" Of Christian Church Bombing In Egypt, Ridiculous

January 2, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - A piece published by the WashTimes [see, Egypt Church Bombing Probe Focuses On Local Group, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/2/egypt-church-bombing-probe-focuses-local-group/] and authored by AP is typically absurd, ignoring the country's largest, most influential Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, as a radicalizing factor.

"Egypt does, however, have a rising movement of Islamic hard-liners who, while they do not advocate violence, adhere to an ideology similar in other ways to al Qaeda. There have been fears they could be further radicalized by sectarian tensions. The hard-liners, known as Salafis, have a large and active presence in Alexandria..."

Salafism is a very old Muslim sect, whose adherents seek to return to the "purity" of early Islam, a sentiment similar [and compatible] with that of the Wahhabists, who dominate Saudi religious orthodoxy.

The resurgence of fundamentalist Islam is not new in Egypt or anywhere in the Muslim world by any means, with scholars tracing the turn towards radicalization to the inception of what has become its chief proponent, the Muslim Brotherhood, created in 1928 by Hassan Al Banna.

It's noteworthy to observe that Salafism is referred to favorably and often on the Brotherhood's English language website.

For example in an article published in Egypt's state newspaper, Al-Ahram [December 25-Jan 1, edition] as well as the MB website Khalil al-Anani discusses the Brotherhood's stance on participation in Egyptian elections, praising its Salafist tone, "...the fatwa is fundamentalist par excellence, not just in its language, which is closer to conventional Salafist rhetoric than it is to the more moderate rhetoric one is accustomed to hearing from the Brotherhood, but also in its unavoidable political and religious ramifications." [source, http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=27381&ref=search.php]

Despite its past history, the author's tone chides the Brotherhood for not being sufficiently fundamentalist.

The role of the Muslim Brotherhood in the rise of Islamic fundamentalism looms large. "Milestones," a book by the MB's chief theoretician, Sayyid Qutb, is often considered central to the modern Islamic fundamentalist movement.

The below video from Islamtube, a radical Muslim website, touting the importance of Qutb and Milestones.

What remains little known in the West, partly through apathy, partly through intentional ignorance is the revolutionary ideology of the Brotherhood. In a 2007 posting on Daniel Pipes' weblog, we find him referring to the MB's efforts to subvert America and the West from the inside, "sabotaging its miserable house."

"Aug. 1, 2007 update: In "Finally, The Smoking Gun," Douglas Farah examines one of the exhibits presented by the prosecution in the Holy Land Foundation case currently taking place in Texas. The document in question is a Muslim Brotherhood memorandum by Mohamed Akram, dated May 22, 1991, titled "Understanding the role of the Muslim Brother in North America." It outlines the Muslim Brotherhood's plan to convert the United States into a Muslim country. Farah considers it "the smoking gun of the Ikhwan's long-standing efforts to destroy the Western world."

Akram writes:

The process of settlement is a 'Civilization-Jihadist Process" with all the word means. The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated ad God's religion is made victorious over all other religions.

Without this level of understanding, we are not up to this challenge and have not prepared ourselves for Jihad yet. It is a Muslim's destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final hour comes, and there is no escape from that destiny except for those who chose to slack..." [see, http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/05/the-muslim-brotherhoods-american-goals]

None of this should be surprising given the Muslim Brotherhood's motto, "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Qur'an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope." With this in mind we find the AP's treatment of the Egyptian church bombing typically disingenuous, seemingly pretending that Egyptian radicalism is some new and rising movement. It certainly is rising, as is Islamic fundamentalism all over the world, but it is nothing new. Egypt is not tangential to the spread of the modern violent triumphalist Islamist creed, it is its birthplace.

Christian Church In Egypt Bombed

January 1, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The jihad against Middle East Christians showed no signs of lessening in the New Year, as a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device at the Coptic Christian Saints Church in Alexandria, Egypt, killing over 20 and wounding dozens more. [see, Mubarak Blames "Foreign Hands" For Church Bomb, http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2011/01/01/egypt-church-bombing.html]

Despite president Mubarak's effort to shift blame to outsiders - primarily al-Qaeda - Egypt's intolerance of its Christian population has long been documented. Cairo's Al-Azhar University has functioned as the primary training institute for imams for nearly a millennium, having produced such luminaries as Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin-Laden's second in command and Omar Abdel-Rahman, the "Blind Sheikh," currently serving a life sentence for his role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

Saturday's blast continues a wave of anti-Christian violence which has spread across the Muslim world - from Egypt to Malaysia - against a backdrop of silence from Team Obama.